Full stop falling out of fashion thanks to instant messaging

The full stop is falling out of fashion as instant messaging and internet conversation makes them increasingly obsolete, one of the world's leading linguistic experts has said.

Prof David Crystal, author of more than 100 books on language, said the use of full stops is being "revised in a really fundamental way", as the written word becomes faster and more conversational online.

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Speaking at the Hay Festival, sponsored by the Telegraph, the linguist said full stops are now rarely used in instant messages unless the writer wishes to make a specific point, in a manner more akin to expressing emotion.

The punctuation mark has also been lost from signs and advertising, with designers largely dropping a Victorian convention for putting a full stop at the end of even the shortest lines.

It's quite extraordinary what's going on thereDavid Crystal

"One of the places the full stop is really being revised in a really fundamental way is on the internet," said Prof Crystal, author of Making A Point.

"You look at the internet or any instant messaging exchange - anything that is a fast dialogue taking place.

"People simply do not put full stops in, unless they want to make a point. The full stop is now being used in those circumstances as an emotion marker.

"I've never seen anything like that in the history of full stops before. It's quite extraordinary what's going on there."

The amount of punctuation on posters, including full stops and apostrophes, has declined, he said, as modern designers decide "too much looks cluttered".

He added he was not troubled by the changes in use of punctuation, with language simply changing through time.

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The only thing he got "worked up about" he added, was "Radio 3 syndrome", in which presenters trail off when describing a piece of music to mumble the composer's name inaudibly.

When asked about teaching spelling and grammar to primary school children, he said current testing leaves a "huge amount to be desired", displaying "linguistic naivety" about the how much punctuation has changed throughout history.